97. Everything, Everything

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Riley smiled, holding the phone to her ear. "So, Jeremy Gilbert's finally off into the big wide world?"

"Yep," Jeremy said. She could hear the smile in his voice. "One last day in Mystic Falls, then art school."

"So I'm talking to the next Picasso?" she grinned, then sighed. "I wish I could be there to help Matt and Ric drink you into the sunset."

Jeremy laughed. "Trust me, you don't want to be here. Anyway, where you are is much more important."

"Yeah," Riley nodded in agreement. "Still, I don't think I'll get to see you again before you go, which sucks."

"Well, I'm definitely gonna come back to visit," he promised. "Can't leave you, Matt and Ric alone with all these vampires."

Riley smiled sadly, hesitating. "Jer, thanks. For the summer. I don't know what I would have done without you in Mystic Falls to drink and play video games with without judgement, and... I'm sorry that I got Damon back and you never got Bonnie."

Jeremy sighed. The toughest decision about leaving Mystic Falls had been to leave without waiting for Bonnie to come back. But the fact that she was going to Nova Scotia meant that she was on her way, and she would want him to be happy, he was sure of it. Even if it meant that he had to leave his hometown.

"If Bonnie ever comes back," Jeremy started. "Tell her I waited for as long as I could... and that I love her."

Riley smiled. "Of course. See you, Jer."

"Bye Riley."

She hung up the phone and sat down opposite Liz in the Sheriff's office, picking up the file that she had discarded to call Jeremy. "Where were we?"

Liz smiled at her step-daughter. "You can go, y'know. We can do this another time."

Riley raised an eyebrow. "Actually, we can't. We only have today – Caroline's orders. But that's all I'm allowed to tell you, the rest is supposed to be a surprise."

Liz playfully rolled her eyes; she was so used to Caroline's surprises that they were beginning to feel ordinary. "Still, isn't there something else you'd rather be doing?"

Riley pretended to think about it. "Nope. Absolutely nothing." She looked down at the file, one in a long list of unsolved cases. "Luka Martin? That's a blast from the past."

"You know him?" Liz raised her eyebrows. "I can't even remember where we found him now, it was so long ago. His body was burned, but we managed to get some DNA. Never could figure out who killed him..."

Riley giggled. When Liz looked up at her in surprise, she closed the file. "It was Damon. On my 18th birthday, of all days. Stefan killed his dad later that night. They were witches, working for Elijah."

"So we're justifying murder these days?" Liz asked, not quite as seriously as the question sounded. Riley shrugged, not saying what they both knew. When you were caught up in the vampire world, murder was just par-for-the-course.

There was a light knock on the door. They both looked up to see Damon leaning on the doorframe.

"Doesn't dying get you a ticket out of work?" he asked, a smirk on his face. Liz returned his smirk with a genuine smile.

"About time!"

He came into the room and took a seat next to Riley.

"You called him?" Riley asked, noting the lack of surprise on her step-mom's face. Liz smiled sheepishly.

"We need an extra pair of hands," she lied nonchalantly. "Anyway, Damon's probably responsible for half of these open cases."

Damon rolled his eyes. "Do you really think so little of me?" he asked. Riley threw the 'Luka Martin' file onto his lap, where he didn't even need to see it for more than a second to remember it perfectly. "OK, fine. It was me."

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